Sean Bean Solves ‘Game of Thrones’ Mystery of Ned Stark’s Last Words

Game of Thrones is no Westworld, but we Westerosi can fall down conspiracy holes all the same. So it was with Ned Stark’s curiously inaudible last words from Season 1, which Sean Bean himself has finally put to rest.

All the way back in Game of Thrones’ inaugural season, the climactic scene of “Baelor” saw Sean Bean’s Ned Stark glumly resolved to his fate as King Joffrey unexpectedly ordered a beheading. The living Ned Stark was last seen quietly murmuring to himself before the executioner’s sword struck, leaving many to wonder what Ned might have been saying. Captions have never identified the speech, and fan imaginations have run wild with whatever Stark family secrets or Faceless Man reveals Ned may have spilled in his final moments. Well, kudos to those who shrugged off the moment as “random prayer,” as Sean Bean himself told The Huffington Post he had no specific direction for the lines (via UPROXX):

It appears that way, doesn’t it? I couldn’t be too specific, because I don’t know if religion [like that] was around in those days, whatever they were. I just thought, ‘What would you do if this were really gonna happen?’ You probably would pray. You probably would murmur some words and you’d keep it quiet. You’d keep it to yourself.

It’s quite subtle in that many people wouldn’t pick it up. It was an interesting thing to do for me at that point. There’s not much you can do really, you’ve got your head on a block. That’s about the only thing you can do is murmur.

Were that not enough of a buzzkill, Bean also dismissed any suggestion that Ned Stark might put in some cameo appearance for the eighth and final season. Like they’d tell us anyway! Now, if you’ll excuse us, we have theories about Hot Pie as The Night King to tend to.